CAMILLUS – Long the dominant high lacrosse program in Central New York and many points beyond on both the boys and girls sides, West Genesee, and its devoted followers, are hungry for a resumption of the glory days.
If it happens, a pair of new varsity head coaches will have led them.
As first reported by WSYR-TV, both boys lacrosse head coach Shaun Smith and girls lacrosse coach Drew White submitted their resignations last week, with athletic director Mike Burns saying that both cited personal reasons for their departures.
Both Smith and White coached two seasons with their respective teams, with the 2020 season wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When he took over the boys lacrosse program in the summer of 2018, Smith, who had previously coached at Corcoran (later combined into a Syracuse City team), faced the daunting task of following local legend Mike Messere, who had built the Wildcats program into a powerhouse that won 30 sectional titles and 15 state Class A championships.
In each of the two seasons Smith coached, 2019 and 2021,WG reached the sectional Class A finals, only to fall both times to Baldwinsville. The Bees were responsible for four of the Wildcats’ 11 defeats amid a tough schedule in 2021.
White also was a proven head coach when he took over the girls Wildcats program following three seasons under Kevin Hennigan, White having spent 14 seasons at Fulton patiently building the Red Raiders into a contender that reached the 2018 sectional Class C final.
WG’s girls would also get to a sectional title game in 2019, where it fell to Baldwinsville. After the lost 2020 season, last spring the Wildcats would go 11-6 and get stopped in the sectional semifinals by eventual champion Cicero-North Syracuse, a team it beat earlier in the season.
